AIC Act two

Question 1

I think Mrs Birling ought to be excused

she’s had a long, exciting and tiring day

• Gerald

Answer 1

patronising

seeks to assert his patriarchal influence by speaking on Sheila’s behalf and suppressing her voice

sinister undertone of controlling what she thinks and her body
- foreshadows subsequent revelations about Gerald’s pernicious interactions with Eva

Question 2

you think young women ought to be protected against unpleasant and disturbing things?

• Inspector

Answer 2

Edwardian view

• woman aren’t to be tainted by unpleasant, worldly truths
• woman aren’t capable of dealing with them

class hypocrisy
- upper class are to be sheltered from harsh realities of life whereas working-class woman aren't

Question 3

I must obviously be a selfish, vindictive creature

• Sheila

Answer 3

aware of how badly she behaved
- self-deprecating sarcasm

mature and perceptive enough to forecast Gerald’s thoughts

Question 4

we’ll have to share our guilt

• Inspector

Answer 4

Priestley’s beliefs embodies in the inspector

• moral socialism
• need for co-operation, community and social justice in society
• theme of responsibility

Question 5

we all started like that - so confident, so pleased with ourselves

• Sheila

Answer 5

outspoken, confident and insightful

beings to challenge her parents

speaks slower(dashes and commas)
- adopts inspectors structure

Question 6

you seem to have made such a great impression on this child

• Mrs Birling

Answer 6

treats Sheila as immature and young

disdainful and dismissive of her opinion

Question 7

we often do on the young ones. They’re more impressionable

• Inspector

Answer 7

Priestley’s message that the younger generations have the capacity to change and break the cycle of abuse and poverty
- more open minded

generation gap

Question 8

I think you ought to go to bed - and forget about this absurd business

• Mrs Birling

Answer 8

trying to control Sheila

business

• no sympathy for Eva
• trying to separate herself from any blame or emotion

Question 9

Girls of that class

• Mrs Birling

Answer 9

clear prejudice

• dehumanising effect
• repulsion

only cares about Eva’s class

• her worth and value as a human is inextricably linked to her social class
• the view that Priestley sought to challenge and subvert

Question 10

you musn’t try to build up a kind of wall between us and that girl

• Sheila

Answer 10

metaphor

• understands the power of the inspector
• he will break down the barriers between social classes and Sheila is the one that is attempting to prevent her family from building it
• echo the Inspector’s dialogue and attempts to translate it into a language that her family will understand
• acknowledges the harsh reality that she has been blinded to: her parents have indoctrinated her to shut out the lower class from her life. She now sees there is an apparent wall between her class and the lower class.

change in tone
-language has changed from being one of accepting her father’s reprimands to telling her parents what to do

metaphor

• demonstrates how Sheila has matured as a character
• echo the Inspector’s dialogue and attempts to translate it into a language that her family will understand
• adopt the Inspector’s structure of speech

Question 11

that - I consider - is a trifle impertinent

• Mrs Birling

Answer 11

haughty and snobbish

sees inspector as socially inferior
- shouldn’t be able to contradict her

Question 12

he’s giving us the rope - so that we’ll hang ourselves

• Sheila

Answer 12

metaphor

• allow family to condemn themselves by criticizing each other, instead of supporting one another
• able to elicit info that will incriminate themselves

interpretation
- rich will cause their ultimate downfall in the form of a social revolution

Question 13

She was very pretty - soft brown hair and big dark eyes - (breaks off). My God!

• Gerald

Answer 13

shows the greatest grief when remembering her beauty

• superficial
• only helped her because of physical attraction

Question 14

‘“No, of course not. He’s only a boy… (staggered) It isn’t true”

• Mrs Birling

Answer 14

ignorance and shock
- blind to the reality of her families problems

associates a face with the man she believed to be culpable, and because it is someone she cares about and believes to be equal in status to herself, Mrs Birling begins to feel the weight of what she has done

Question 15

As if a girl of that sort would refuse money

• Mrs Birling

Answer 15

preconceptions about lower class

• classist snob
• viewed Eva as not possessing any great standards of morality such that they would refuse money

Question 16

I blame the young man who was the father of the child she was going to have

He should be made an example of. If the girl’s death is due to anybody, then it’s due to him

• Mrs Birling

Answer 16

very ironic

• Eric is the father
• fragile and complex nature of the relationship

lack of attentiveness and her ability to turn a blind eye to Eric’s behaviour has led to her condemning her own son through ignorance and ego

Question 17

She was claiming elaborate fine feelings and scruples that were simply absurd in a girl in her position

• Mrs Birling

Answer 17

• cruel, cold and insensitive attitude
• common wealthy attitude of see plebeians as clearly inferior and lacking morality, not as humans
• highlights her hypocrisy and dramatic irony later on in the conflict

Question 18

“I’m sorry she should have come to such a horrible end. But I accept no blame for it at all.”

• Mr Birling

Answer 18

antithesis of what J.B. Priestley is attempting to expound via the play.

Eva was the victim of a society where she had to struggle to survive and suffered.

Mrs Birling’s comments are cruel and reflect a lack of pity for Eva’s suffering

• doesn’t take in to account the role of her family in Eva’s sad demise
• has exonerated herself from the suffering of the poor

Question 19

I didn’t install her there to make love to her

• Gerald

Answer 19

Gerald did provide for Eva, care for her and left her with money and supplies

• lesser of the wrongs because he was the only person who did look after her with compassion.
• wasn’t obligated to stay with her

Question 20

I became at once the most important person in her life

• Gerald

Answer 20

Rescue imagery

• portraying her as a victim of the capitalist society
• perceives himself as a knight in shining armour who saved Eva

Gerald’s rescue of Eva is a façade

• taking advantage of her vulnerability
• She was in a lower class which means that he was in the position of absolute power

condemns the actions of “alderman Meggarty” who is a “notorious womaniser”
- Gerald was in a very similair position

Question 21

you were the wonderful fairy prince

• Sheila

Answer 21

witty quips

- sarcasm

Question 22

I don’t dislike you as I did half an hour ago

And now at least you’ve been honest

• Sheila

Answer 22

shows how much she has changed

• expect her to react hysterically but she is very mature
• accepting tone

Question 23

But just in case you forget - or decide not to come back, Gerald, I think you’d better rake this with you(She hands him the ring)

• Sheila

Answer 23

ring

• symbol of love, marriage and loyalty
• commitment is terminated

symbolic of her conversion from socialism to capitalism

• beginning to see beyond materialism(losing her riches)
• eyes have opened to the suffering that the working-class people have to endure for the sake of the avaricious upper-class citizens
• unites with the plebeians
• undermines Gerald’s masculinity and male chauvinism by refusing to marry him
• defies the misogynistic social constructs built up in the Edwardian Era of females being subservient by tolerating infidelity

Question 24

you and I aren’t the same people who sat down to dinner here”

• Sheila

Answer 24

Sheila has accepted her change

• cannot have the wool pulled over eyes ever again
• will go on to be a better person as she carries Priestley’s message

Priestley suggests that the relationship is completely fragmented
- ‘you and I’ rather than ‘we’ implying that their unity has been broken